Grouping records in buckets distributed across nodes of a distributed database system to perform comparison of the grouped records

ABSTRACT

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for grouping records in buckets distributed across nodes a distributed database system to perform comparison of the grouped records. Upon receiving a record, data in the received record is processed to determine at least one containing bucket having attributes matching those of the received record, wherein the at least one containing bucket comprises at least one of a plurality of buckets, and wherein the buckets are assigned to the local node and the external nodes. A determination is made of at least one of the containing buckets assigned to at least one of the external nodes. At least a portion data in the received record is forwarded to each of the determined at least one external node to perform comparison matching with other records in the containing bucket at the external node.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, andmethod for grouping records in buckets distributed across nodes adistributed database system to perform comparison of the groupedrecords.

2. Description of the Related Art

To compare data records in a database to determine a relationship valueof the records, the database server may have to pair-wise compare eachpossible pair of records. For large scale databases, such a comparisonoperation, which is computationally expensive, may require a substantialamount of computing resources to calculate the results in a timelyfashion.

Prior art includes a candidate selection technique where candidaterecords are preprocessed and analyzed in order to place each into 0-nbucket groups. Once the buckets have been identified, the recordsassociated with each individual bucket are pair-wise compared againsteach other using a probabilistic matching algorithm to determine thematch score for the pair. The data that is used during the detailedcomparison step is referred to as the comparison data. In existingprobabilistic matching systems, the candidate comparison processoraccesses a centralized repository, like a database or file-system, toretrieve the candidate record comparison data for the records thatbelong to the bucket being processed, which creates a bottleneck at therepository.

There is a need in the art for improved techniques to cross comparelarge data sets.

SUMMARY

Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for groupingrecords in buckets distributed across nodes a distributed databasesystem to perform comparison of the grouped records. Upon receiving arecord, data in the received record is processed to determine at leastone containing bucket having attributes matching those of the receivedrecord, wherein the at least one containing bucket comprises at leastone of a plurality of buckets, and wherein the buckets are assigned tothe local node and the external nodes. A determination is made of atleast one of the containing buckets assigned to at least one of theexternal nodes. At least a portion data in the received record isforwarded to each of the determined at least one external node toperform comparison matching with other records in the containing bucketat the external node.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a distributed database environment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of an implementation of the componentsin a local node database.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a derive data record.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of bucket information.

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b illustrate an embodiment of operations to group datarecords in buckets.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of operations to process a receivedderived data record to add to a bucket assigned to the node.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of operations to remove a databaserecord from a bucket.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of an implementation of the databasenodes of the described embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described embodiments provide techniques to group records distributedacross nodes in a database in buckets, where the buckets are distributedacross the database nodes. This distribution of records to buckets andbuckets to nodes distributes the comparison operations by havingdifferent nodes perform the comparison operation for the records groupedin the buckets assigned to the nodes.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a distributed database environment100 including a master node 102 and a plurality of distributed databasenodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) in which records in a database aredistributed. The master node 2 may manage the assignment of records inthe database to the different nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n). A host106 may communicate input in the form of updates and data to the recordsin the database to the master node 102, which then may propagate theupdated or new data records to the node 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n)assigned that record. The master node 102 may assign distributeddatabase node 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) a range of keys of databaserecords that the node 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) maintains. The master102 and distributed database nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) maycommunicate over a network 108. The nodes 102 and 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104_(n) may comprise database servers.

Node 104 _(n) shows the components that may be included in each of thenodes 104 ₁ . . . 104 _(n), including a local node database 110 to storedistributed records 112 of the database assigned to the node 104 _(n).The local node further includes a bucket manager 114 to generate deriveddata 300 that comprises a compressed format of the record includingmetadata on the record, where the derived data 114 may include only someor all of the content from those fields of the record 112 needed tocompare with other records to determine a relationship value. In thisway, the derived data 114 may not include data from all fields, onlythose fields needed for comparison purposes to determine a relationshipvalue.

The bucket manager 114 may apply a blocking algorithm 118 to assign datarecords to buckets 120 based on attributes of the record or derived data300 of the record matching attributes of the bucket 120. Bucketattributes may be stored with metadata for the bucket 120. The bucketmanager 114 may then invoke a comparison algorithm 122 to pair-wisecompare every record in one bucket 118 with every other record in thatsame bucket using the derived data to generate a relationship valuebetween every pair of records. Bucket assignments 124 indicate thebuckets assigned to the nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n), where themaster node 102 may assign a set of buckets 120 exclusively to each node104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n), so that the possible buckets that mayresult from the blocking algorithm 118 are distributed among the nodes104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n). In this way, the comparison algorithm 122processing, which is very computationally expensive, is distributedacross different processing nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) to allowparallel and distributed processing of comparison operations.

A record may be assigned to buckets based on attributes of the record,where a record may be grouped with different buckets having matchingattributes distributed on different nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n).Each node 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) having a bucket in which onerecord is grouped would be provided derived data for that record to usefor the comparison operations between the records in one group.

FIG. 2 illustrates an implementation of the local node database 200,such as local node database 110, as including the distributed records202, such as records 112, and derived data records 300 providing animplementation of the derived data 300 in a database table. Further, thebucket information 400 comprises bucket records in a database tableproviding the bucket assignments 122.

FIG. 2 also provides an embodiment of an implementation using databasetriggers and database stored procedures to manage the bucketing andcomparison operations. A database trigger defines a set of actionsexecuted in response to a database event, such as an INSERT, UPDATE orDELETE operation on a specified table. When such an SQL operation isexecuted, the trigger is said to be activated. The trigger can beactivated before the SQL operation or after. A stored procedure containsprocedural constructs with Structured Query Language (SQL) and stored inthe databases and run on database servers. An application can call astored procedure by name and run the SQL statements that are included inthe stored procedure. The application can be on the client, while thestored procedure executes its logic on the server. Stored procedures anduser-defined functions are sometimes referred to collectively asroutines.

The local node database 200 may include a bucketing trigger 204, i.e.,database trigger, that is triggered in response to an event, such as arecord 202, new or modified, being added to the local database 200. Thebucketing trigger 204 may then invoke a bucketing stored procedure 206which executes the blocking algorithm 118 to determine a bucket 120 inwhich the record should be grouped. The adding of a record to one of thebuckets 120 or bucket information 400 may then invoke a comparisontrigger 208, comprising a database trigger 208, that invokes acomparison stored procedure 210 to execute the comparison algorithm 122to perform a pair-wise comparison of the derived data 300 for everyrecord grouped in the bucket 120 to determine a relationship strengthvalue for every pair of records in the bucket 120 indicating arelatedness of the records of the compared derived data.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a derived data record 300,comprising an instance of the derived data 300, including a recordidentifier (ID) 302 identifying a record 202, a bucket list 304indicating every bucket across the nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n) inwhich the record 302 is grouped, and compact content 306 comprising aportion of the content of the record 302 that is used by the comparisonalgorithm 122 to compare records. The compact content 306 may include asubset of the fields of the record 302, such as only those fields usedby the comparison algorithm 122, and may include an abbreviated formatof the included fields. In this way, the derived data 300, provides acompact representation of the record 302.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of an instance 400, of the bucketinformation 400 for one bucket identified in the bucket ID 402 and arecord list 404 of records grouped with the bucket, such as the recordID or key that can be used to locate the derived data 300, for therecord.

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b illustrate an embodiment of operations performed bythe bucket manager 114 to perform bucketing and comparison operations atthe distributed nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n). Operations describedwith respect to local node 104 _(n) are applicable to operations thatmay be performed with respect to any of the other nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . .. 104 ₄₋₁. The bucket managers 114 at each of the nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . .. 104 _(n) may independently perform bucketing and comparisonoperations. Upon receiving (at block 500) a record for a local node 104,database 110, the local node database 110 is updated (at block 502) withthe received record, which may comprise a new record or an update to anexisting record. The bucket manager 114 invokes (at block 504) theblocking algorithm 118 to process the received record to generatederived data 300 comprising a representation of the data in the receivedrecord used for comparison with other records. The blocking algorithm118 processes (at block 506) the received record to determine at leastone containing bucket having attributes matching those of the receivedrecord, where such determined containing buckets may comprise buckets120 assigned to the local node 104 _(n) and/or external nodes 104 ₁, 104₂ . . . 104 _(n-1). Derived data 400 _(i) is generated (at block 508)for the received record having the compact content 306 for the receivedrecord and a bucket list 304 of the at least one containing bucket. Thebucket manager 114, or some other component, determines (at block 510)whether the at least one containing bucket 120 is assigned to the localnode 104 _(n) and/or the external nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n-1).

If (at block 512) the received record is an update to an existing recordin the distributed records 112 of the local node database 110, then thebucket manager 114 determines (at block 514) whether the previousversion of the updated existing record was grouped in at least oneremoved bucket that is not one of the containing buckets, i.e., thebucket grouping has changed so that the updated record is no longergrouped in a bucket, referred to as the removed bucket, in which thepre-updated or pre-existing record was previously grouped. Thisdetermination may be made by comparing the bucket list 304 calculatedfor the updated record with the bucket list 304 for the pre-updatedrecord to determine if a bucket in the bucket list for the pre-updatedrecord is not in the bucket list in the derived data 300, for theupdated record. If (from the yes branch of decision 514) there is aremoved bucket, then for each removed bucket at the local node 104 _(n),the bucket manager 114 indicates (at block 516) that the received recordis not grouped with the removed bucket, such as by removing the receivedrecord ID from the record list 404 in the bucket information 400, forthe removed bucket. Further, a message is sent (at block 518) to anyexternal node 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n-1) assigned at least oneremoved bucket indicating to remove the received record from the atleast one removed bucket.

If (at block 512) the received record is a new record or there is nobucket that grouped the pre-updated record but does not include theupdated record (the no branch of block 514) or from block 518, controlproceeds to block 520 in FIG. 5 b. At block 520, for each of the atleast one containing buckets assigned to the local node 104 _(i), therecord ID of the received record is added to the record list 404 in thebucket information 400 _(i) for the containing bucket. If the bucketinformation 400 _(i) for the containing bucket already includes thatrecord ID, then the record list 404 may not be updated. For each of theat least one of the external nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n-1)including one of the containing buckets, the bucket manager 114 mayforward (at block 522) the derived data 300 _(i) for the record to theexternal node to add to the containing bucket assigned to the externalnode. The derived data 300 _(i) for the received record may be updated(at block 524) in the local node database 110 with the newly generatedderived data.

The comparison algorithm 122 may then be invoked (at block 526), foreach of the at least one containing buckets assigned to the local node104 _(n), to compare the derived data 300, for the received record withthe derived data for each of the other records in the containing bucketto determine relationship values between the received record and theother records in the containing bucket.

In one embodiment, the bucketing trigger 204 may invoke, in response toreceiving the record at block 500, the bucketing stored procedure 206 toperform the operations at blocks 502 through 524. Further, thecomparison trigger 208, in response to the bucket information 400 beingupdated, may invoke the comparison stored procedure 210 to perform theoperation at block 526 to determine relationship values in thecontaining bucket.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the bucketmanager 114, or the bucketing stored procedure 206, or some othercomponent, in response to receiving (at block 600) derived data 300,from one of the external nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n-1) for oneindicated bucket assigned to the local node 104 _(n) receiving thederived data. The bucket manager 114 indicates (at block 602) that therecord associated with the received derived data 300, is included in theindicated bucket by updating the record list 404 in the bucketinformation 400, for the indicated bucket. The bucketing manager 114 orthe comparison stored procedure 210 may execute the comparison algorithm122 at the receiving node to compare the received derived data with thederived data for other records in the indicated bucket to determine arelationship value between the record represented by the receivedderived data and the other records in the indicated bucket.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of operations performed by the bucketmanager 114, or the bucketing stored procedure 206, or some othercomponent, in response to receiving (at block 700) a remove message fromone of the external nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n-1) indicating toremove a record from an indicated bucket. In response, the bucketmanager 114 indicates (at block 702) that the record indicated in theremove message is not included in the indicated bucket, such as byremoving the record from the record list 404 in the bucket information400, for the removed bucket.

Described embodiments provide a distributed database system runningefficiently in parallel on an elastic cluster of computing nodes. Thedescribed embodiments may be implemented in a high performance cloudcomputing environment that can efficiently process massive amounts ofdata (big data) scattered in the cloud. Further, a highly efficientprobabilistic matching algorithm minimizes the required computingresources used by the comparison algorithm by generating very limitedamount of buckets of data to compare, which reduces network latency.Further, described embodiments provide highly horizontal scalability onthe cluster to meet the desired level of performance. Further thedescribed operations may be driven by data change events across datanodes, so that the data blocking and matching are invoked and processedautomatically in a parallel manner without the need to be calledexplicitly.

Described embodiments provide techniques to manage records in adistributed database system, distributed across database servers ornodes, so that records are assigned to one or more buckets, so thatrecords grouped in a bucket are subject to a comparison algorithm thatperforms pair-wise comparison of each pair of records in the bucket todetermine a relationship value between each pair of records. In thisway, the comparison operations of records are distributed across thedistributed database by grouping the records in buckets, which aredistributed across the nodes. The database server nodes may separatelyand in parallel perform comparison operations to determine relationshipsfor the records grouped in their assigned buckets.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The reference characters used herein, such as i and n, are used hereinto denote a variable number of instances of an element, which mayrepresent the same or different values, and may represent the same ordifferent value when used with different or the same elements indifferent described instances.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a computer system 802 which maycomprise an implementation of the nodes 104 ₁, 104 ₂ . . . 104 _(n).Computer node 802 is only one example of a suitable computing node andis not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of embodiments of the invention described herein.Regardless, computer node 802 is capable of being implemented and/orperforming any of the functionality set forth hereinabove.

The computer node 802 is operational with numerous other general purposeor special purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with computer node 802include, but are not limited to, personal computer systems, servercomputer systems, thin clients, thick clients, handheld or laptopdevices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set topboxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputersystems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computingenvironments that include any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

Computer node 802 may be described in the general context of computersystem executable instructions, such as program modules, being executedby a computer system. Generally, program modules may include routines,programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and so on thatperform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.Computer node 802 may be practiced in distributed cloud computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed cloudcomputing environment, program modules may be located in both local andremote computer system storage media including memory storage devices.

As shown in FIG. 8, computer node 802 is shown in the form of ageneral-purpose computing device. The components of computersystem/server 802 may include, but are not limited to, one or moreprocessors or processing units 804, a system memory 806, and a bus 808that couples various system components including system memory 806 toprocessor 804.

Bus 808 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer node 802 typically includes a variety of computer systemreadable media. Such media may be any available media that is accessibleby computer node 802, and it includes both volatile and non-volatilemedia, removable and non-removable media, and may be used for storingthe programs and data used by the programs.

System memory 806 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 810 and/or cachememory 812. Computer node 802 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 813 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 808 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 806 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 814, having a set (at least one) of program modules 816,may be stored in memory 806 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules etc., and program data. Each of the operating system,one or more application programs, other program modules, and programdata or some combination thereof, may include an implementation of anetworking environment. Program modules 816 generally carry out thefunctions and/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention asdescribed herein.

Computer node 802 may also communicate with one or more external devices818 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 820, etc.; one ormore devices that enable a user to interact with the computer node 802;and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.) that enablecomputer system/server 802 to communicate with one or more othercomputing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output (I/O)interfaces 822. Still yet, computer node 802 can communicate with one ormore networks such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide areanetwork (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via networkadapter 824. As depicted, network adapter 824 communicates with theother components of computer system/server 802 via bus 808. It should beunderstood that although not shown, other hardware and/or softwarecomponents could be used in conjunction with computer system/server 802.Examples, include, but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers,redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems,tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all)embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereofmean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of theitems are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Onthe contrary a variety of optional components are described toillustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the presentinvention.

Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the likemay be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods andalgorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does notnecessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in thatorder. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in anyorder practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device/article (whether or not theycooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly,where more than one device or article is described herein (whether ornot they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a singledevice/article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead ofthe shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or thefeatures of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more otherdevices which are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the present inventionneed not include the device itself.

The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention hasbeen presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the preciseform disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claimsappended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide acomplete description of the manufacture and use of the composition ofthe invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, theinvention resides in the claims herein after appended.

1-16. (canceled)
 17. A method for determining a relationship of recordsdistributed among nodes in a network, comprising: receiving a record ina database; processing data in the received record to determine at leastone containing bucket having attributes matching those of the receivedrecord, wherein the at least one containing bucket comprises at leastone of a plurality of buckets, and wherein the buckets are assigned tothe local node and the external nodes; determining at least one of thecontaining buckets assigned to at least one of the external nodes; andforwarding at least a portion data in the received record to each of thedetermined at least one external node to perform comparison matchingwith other records in the containing bucket at the external node. 18.The method of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:generating a bucket list for the received record indicating the at leastone containing bucket including the received record.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the operations further comprise: forwarding the bucketlist to each of the at least one external nodes assigned one of thecontaining buckets.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the receivedrecord comprises an update to one of the records stored at the localnode, wherein the operations further comprise: determining whether aprevious version of the record being updated was in a removed bucketthat is not one of the containing buckets; and indicating that therecord being updated is not in the removed bucket when the removedbucket is assigned to the local node.
 21. The method of claim 20,wherein the operations further comprise: sending a message to theexternal node assigned the removed bucket indicating to removeindication of the received record from the removed bucket.
 22. Themethod of claim 17, further comprising: processing the received recordto generate derived data comprising a compact representation of the datain the received record including content for less than all fields in thereceived record and including content used for comparing the deriveddata with derived data for other records assigned to one of the bucketsto determine a relationship value for the compared records, wherein theforwarded data in the received record comprises the derived data. 23.The method of claim 17, further comprising: for each of the at least onecontaining buckets assigned to the local node, executing a comparisonalgorithm at the local node to compare at least a portion of data in thereceived record with at least a portion of data for other records in thecontaining bucket to determine relationship values between the receivedrecord and the other records in the containing bucket.
 24. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising: receiving data for one record from one ofthe external nodes for one indicated bucket assigned to the local node;indicating that the record associated with the received data is includedin the indicated bucket; and executing a comparison algorithm at thelocal node to compare the received data with at least a portion of thefor other records in the indicated bucket to determine a relationshipvalue between the record associated with the received data and the otherrecords in the indicated bucket.
 25. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising: receiving a message from one of the external nodesindicating to remove a record from an indicated bucket; and indicatingthat the record indicated in the message is not grouped in the indicatedbucket.
 26. The method of claim 17, wherein the database of records isdistributed across the nodes, wherein each node includes a node databaseto store a subset of records in the database, further comprising:invoking a bucketing database trigger in the node database in the localnode in response to receiving the record; and invoking, by the bucketingdatabase trigger, a bucketing stored procedure in the node database atthe local node to perform the operations of processing the receivedrecord to determine the at least one containing bucket, determining theat least one of the containing buckets assigned to the at least one ofthe external nodes, and forwarding the data.
 27. The method of claim 26,further comprising: invoking a comparison database trigger in the nodedatabase in the local node in response to the bucketing stored proceduredetermining that one of the containing buckets is assigned to the localnode; and invoking, by the comparison database trigger, a comparisonstored procedure in the node database in the local node to compare thederived data for the received record with the derived data for otherrecords grouped in the containing bucket assigned to the local node todetermine relationship values between the received record and the otherrecords grouped in the containing bucket.